Tannhauser on CD: Five Recent Entries

Elisabeth: Maria Müller	Reinmar von Zweter: Carl Stralendorf
Venus: Ruth Jost-Arden	Shepherd: Erna Berger
Tannhäuser: Sigismund Pilinszky	Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and Choir
Landgraf Hermann: Ivar Andrésen	Karl Elmendorff, conductor
Wolfram von Eschenbach: Herbert Janssen	Abridged version, recorded in 1930
Walther von der Vogelweide: Geza Belti-Pilinszky	Naxos Historical (distributed by Naxos of America) 8.110094-95 (2 CDs)
Biterolf: Georg von Tschurtschenthaler
Heinrich der Schreiber: Joachim Sattler
Elisabeth: Jane Eaglen	Reinmar von Zweter: Alfred Reiter
Venus: Waltraud Meier	Shepherd: Dorothea Röschmann
Tannhäuser: Peter Seiffert	Staatskapelle Berlin
Landgraf Hermann: René Pape	Chorus of the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin
Wolfram von Eschenbach: Thomas Hampson	Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Walther von der Vogelweide: Gunnar Gudbjörnsson	Recorded 2001 Teldec Classics (distributed by Atlantic) 8573-88064-2 (3 CDs)
Biterolf: Hanno Müller-Brachmann
Heinrich der Schreiber: Stephan Rügamer
Elisabeth: Trude Eipperle	Reinmar von Zweter: Wolfram Zimmermann
Venus: Aga Joesten	Shepherd: Maria Madlen Madsen
Tannhäuser: Günther Treptow	Orchestra and Chorus of the Hessian Radio
Landgraf Hermann: Otto von Rohr	Kurt Schröder, conductor
Wolfram von Eschenbach: Heinrich Schlusnus	Recorded 1949
Walther von der Vogelweide: Joachim Stein	Gebhardt (distributed by Qualiton Imports) JGCD 0037-3 (3 CDs)
Biterolf: Georg Stern
Heinrich der Schreiber: Herbert Hess
Elisabeth: Leonie Rysanek	Reinmar von Zweter: Ljumbomir Pantscheff
Venus: Birgit Nilsson	Shepherd: Patricia Brinton
Tannhäuser: Rudolf Lustig	Orchestra and Chorus of the San Carlo Opera House, Naples
Landgraf Hermann: Gottlob Frick
Wolfram von Eschenbach: Marcel Cordes	Karl Böhm, conductor
Walther von der Vogelweide: Karl Terkal	Recorded 17 March 1956
Biterolf: Philip Curzon	Archipel (distributed by Qualiton Imports) ARPCD 0011-3 (3 CDs)
Heinrich der Schreiber: Karl Gustav Jehrlander
Elisabeth: Grè Brouwestijn	Reinmar von Zweter: Peter Harrower
Venus: Herta Wilfert	Shepherd: Rosl Schweiger
Tannhäuser: Karl Liebl	Orchestra and Chorus of Radio Italiana, Rome
Landgraf Hermann: Deszö Ernster	Artur Rodzinsky, conductor
Wolfram von Eschenbach: Eberhard Wächter	Recorded November 1957
Walther von der Vogelweide: Murray Dickie	Living Stage (distributed by Qualiton Imports) LS 40 35123 (3 CDs)
Biterolf: Aloys Pernerstorfer
Heinrich der Schreiber: Walter Brunelli

Tannhäuserhas lost some of the popularity it once enjoyed, at least on records. Forty years ago, who would have predicted that a time would come when the Ring operas would be recorded as frequently as the earlier work? But the five recordings under review here demonstrate that Tannhäuser can still make an impact in performance.

The first two releases invite us to address the opera's textual issues. The 1930 Columbia set, now reissued by Naxos, is abridged; and the new Teldec recording is a conflation of the Dresden and Paris versions of the score, with an additional, minor textual complication thrown in.

Those labels—"Dresden version" and "Paris version"—have proven their worth as conveniences, but they are oversimplifications. As Mike Ashman points out in his introductory essay to the Teldec set, Wagner made numerous revisions to his opera on many occasions between 1845 and 1875 (booklet, p. 18); eight days before his death in 1883 the composer was discussing the need for further revisions, for a projected Bayreuth production (booklet, p. 20).

By the "Dresden version," we in fact mean not the opera as heard by audiences in that city in 1845, but a score published in 1860, incorporating the changes that the composer presumably considered definitive as of that date. The notorious Paris production of the opera, with its extensive rewrite of parts of the score, took place in 1861; but what we now refer to as the "Paris version" should really be called the "Vienna version" of 1875: for one thing, it is almost invariably sung in German, not French (vocal lines newly composed to fit additional French text in 1861 had to be subsequently back-translated into German). And it was for this 1875 Vienna production that Wagner first had the idea of dovetailing together bar 287 of the overture and bar 27 of the 1861 Bacchanal, and having the act...